Cookbook Club – Sababa
We used Adeena Sussman’s Sababa: Fresh, Sunny Flavors from My Israeli Kitchen as our April cookbook. Sababa means “everything is awesome” in Hebrew, and is the spirit Sussman uses in her Israel-inspired recipes. We did indeed have a sunny afternoon meal – go to my Cookbook Club site to experience the whole lovely lunch. For now – my dish!
Ever since my Roasted Pistachio Ice Cream, I guess I’ve had pistachio on the brain. So Pistachio-Crusted Lemon Bars were a done deal for me.
I pulsed pistachios in a food processor, then pulsed in flour, powdered sugar, lemon zest, and salt. I then pulsed in chilled coconut oil and pressed the crust into a greased and parchment-lined pan. I chilled the crust, then baked until light golden.
I whisked together eggs, egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Then whisked in lemon juice and zest. I cooked over medium heat, continuing to whisk until thickened.
I pressed the curd through a fine-mesh strainer, and discarded the solids.
I whisked olive oil into the lemon curd.
I poured the lemon filling over the baked pistachio crust, and baked until the curd firmed up.
After chilling, I cut into lemon bars and garnished with chopped pistachios and crushed rose petals. The rose petals were optional, but since I’d already put in so much work I figured why not go all in, and I’m glad I did – so beautiful!
As for the taste… the coconut oil overwhelmed the other flavors – I’d use butter instead. Which I think would also eliminate the need to chill the coconut oil, then chill the crust again before baking. The lemon curd was tasty, but not better than a much simpler curd I make regularly (doesn’t require multiple steps of whisking, cooking, straining, and whisking again before baking, as this one does). Even the preparation of the baking pan in this recipe seemed excessive – grease the pan, then layer parchment paper, then grease that parchment paper, then layer another parchment paper, then grease that layer, and grease the sides of the pan – really!? I generally either grease or use parchment paper, and haven’t experienced a problem. All that to say – the many overcomplicated steps of this recipe don’t make it worth the effort. I did love the pistachio flavor and will be experimenting with ground pistachio in my lemon bar crust moving forward.